New BrunswickLocal volunteers have transformed a historic quarry in the heart of residential Sackville into the region’s newest hiking trail and park.The Pickard Quarry provided sandstone for buildings at Mount Allison and beyondErica Butler · CBC News · Posted: Sep 18, 2025 11:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoTantramar Outdoor Club volunteer Richard Elliot is the driving force behind a new wilderness trail at the site of a historic sandstone quarry in Sackville, N.B. (Erica Butler/CBC)What started out as a pandemic project for retired wildlife biologist Richard Elliot is now the Municipality of Tantramar’s newest park and wilderness trail. When Elliot moved to Sackville about 30 years ago, he and his family settled in the residential neighbourhood surrounding the former Pickard Quarry.From the 1880s through to the 1970s, the site provided tens of thousands of tonnes of red sandstone for buildings on the Mount Allison University campus and other notable buildings in the province, such as Moncton’s Bank of Montreal and Saint John’s Carnegie Building, now home to the Saint John Arts Centre. The high-quality stone even travelled as far as Queen’s Park in Toronto, Elliot notes in a history of the site he wrote.WATCH | ‘It’s a gem’: Community volunteers spearhead hiking trail and park project:New park opens to Sackville hikersThe historic Pickard Quarry once provided sandstone for buildings at Mount Allison University and beyond. Now the site has been reclaimed by forest, and is home to new trails.Forest had reclaimed the area surrounding the two former pits, now filled with water and home to wildlife, by the time Elliot and his family moved in. “Our kids grew up using this as their playground,” said Elliot, who regularly hikes along the edges of the quarry and skates on its two ponds in the winter. The quarry also has a long history as a secret getaway spot for generations of Sackville and Mount Allison youth, because despite its proximity to campus and neighbouring homes, it’s remained off the radar. “People from Sackville wouldn’t even know that it’s here because it is so hidden,” said Elliot.That’s changing now, as refurbished trails and a new bridge and viewing platform open up the quarry to more hikers and nature lovers. Interpretive signs throughout Sackville’s new Quarry Park trail tell the story of the sandstone quarry that transformed the area from the 1880s through to the 1970s. (Erica Butler/CBC)The project started about five years ago, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Elliot decided to turn his attention to the quarry trails. “They had been here a long time, but they had grown over gradually,” he said. “So I came in and cleared the trails, and I’ve been working on it ever since.” He had the experience, as an avid volunteer with the Tantramar Outdoor Club, which maintains popular ski, snowshoe and hiking trails off Walker Road in Sackville. The quarrying created the opportunity for the ponds and the wildlife that are enjoying them now.— Richard ElliotIn 2022, the Town of Sackville acquired the 4.7 hectares (11.6 acres) of land from its longtime owner, Mount Allison University. The quarry ponds were ideal to serve as retention ponds for the town’s new floodwater mitigation system, to help prevent freshwater flooding in Sackville’s downtown. Elliot saw an opportunity, and the Tantramar Outdoor Club approached the town with a proposal to create a wilderness park on the site. “It was a really great idea,” said Matt Pryde, the municipality’s active living director. “We have a bit of a hidden gem here in town. So we worked with them closely, were able to find some funding, and started the work.”Tantramar active living director Matt Pryde stands on a new trail into Sackville’s Quarry Park. (Erica Butler/CBC)The town has since built a small parking lot for trail visitors off Charlotte Street, cleared a short accessible trail to the edge of the quarry ponds, and constructed a new viewing platform and bridge across Bowser Brook, which empties into the ponds. The whole project has cost the municipality about $95,000, with over half of the cost coming from grants.Quarry Park’s grand opening is planned for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18, with a guided tour taking place afterward.Ease of accessPryde said the Charlotte Street entry point is an important aspect of the new park, to open up access to people with mobility issues. The trails around the ponds cleared by Elliot and other Tantramar Outdoor Club volunteers have rougher and steeper terrain. “There’s kind of a mixture of opportunities for everybody,” said Pryde, comparing the park to ski hills, which in North America use symbols like black diamonds, blue circles and green squares to alert users to the degree of difficulty they can expect. “We kind of wanted everything to be in that blue circle to green square sort of area, so that people can navigate it fairly easily.”The trail system is also filled with interpretive signs created with help from the Chignecto Naturalists’ Club and the Tantramar Heritage Trust. “The signs here talk about both the cultural or industrial history, and the natural history, because the two really go together,” said Elliot. “The quarrying created the opportunity for the ponds and the wildlife that are enjoying them now.”Elliot said the trail system is still a work in progress. Future plans include safe ways for people to access the shoreline of the ponds.ABOUT THE AUTHORErica Butler is a reporter with CBC New Brunswick. She lives in Sackville and works out of the Moncton newsroom. You can send story tips to erica.butler@cbc.ca.
New wilderness park opening up historic quarry to Sackville nature lovers
